Dallas Cowboys Won't Come Close to Super Bowl

I have had enough. Every year, Dallas has the most talent on paper. Every year, Tony Romo is supposed to have his breakout season. Every year, Dallas' handful of pro-bowlers are poised to finally go deep into the playoffs, and every year, none of these things actually happen.

It seems that so many people buy into these myths. Hasn't anyone stopped to think, "Hey, maybe these guys just aren't that good." Instead, everybody is saying Dallas could be the first team to play in the Super Bowl at home. Is that a joke? Well, it's time to make sense of these myths and show why the Cowboys will not go to the Super Bowl this year.

Myth No. 1 - The Talent On Paper: Going into the 2010 season, the Cowboys had 8/1 odds to win the Super Bowl. Why? I have no idea. Apparently on paper, Dallas is one of the most talented teams in the league. Why? I have no idea. Just about every year, the Cowboys are looked at as one of the most talented teams on paper, and just about every year, they underperform. They won their first playoff game since 1996 last year.

So how can this team be the most talented on paper every year? I just don't get it. I understand that Jason Witten and Miles Austin are very, very good. DeMarcus Ware is one of the best defensive players in the league. They have a couple other solid players with Bradie James and Jay Ratliff. But to say Dallas has the most talent is absurd.

Myth No. 2 - Tony Romo Is An Elite Quarterback: There's a reason why I didn't mention Tony Romo in the paragraph above. Romo is annually the most overrated player in the entire league. He makes terrible decisions, he's awful in important games, he's the opposite of clutch and he makes horrible throws in the red zone. He can do two things better than most quarterbacks in the league. He can extend the play and find time to hit an open receiver extremely well. He also is very good at putting touch on the ball. But hey, he puts up amazing fantasy numbers. Bill Simmons said it perfectly when he wrote that he would rather have Romo as his fantasy quarterback than his real one.

Myth No. 3 - The Three-Headed Monster: The Cowboys apparently have a "three-headed monster" at running back with Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tahsard Choice. This is not true. Since when is Choice a good running back? He only plays when Barber and Jones can't. There is a reason for that. He has been a suitable back only when one of the top two is injured. None of them have ever rushed for over 1,000 yards. So all the sudden, Dallas has a trio of amazing running backs? False.

This is an example of the media taking over a team. Last year, Choice had 18 carries in the third game of the season and 14 in the fourth. He proved to be a good backup (keyword: backup) in the fifth week when he only had eight carries and rushed for 92 yards and a touchdown. After that, he never carried the ball more than four times. However, ever since those three weeks, the media has continues to rave about how great Dallas is because they have three solid running backs. So what happened in Week 1 against the Redskins? Jones and Barber only had eight carries each while Choice had five. That's just not smart. If Jones had 20 carries or more, Dallas could have easily won that game.

Myth No. 4 - Tough Division: This myth has more to do with the NFC East as a whole for the last few years. By that I mean, the NFC East has been a little overrated, especially last year when of course, the Cowboys finished in first place.

Anything can happen in divisional games. Anything. Many didn't expect the Redskins to beat the Cowboys in Week 1, but it happened. Last year, everyone hopped on the New York Giants bandwagon after they started 5-0, even though the only decent team they beat was Dallas (Like I said, anything can happen in a divisional game). Out of the whole NFC East last year, Dallas was the only team to beat a playoff team outside of the division and they only beat one. They happened to beat the Saints a week after the Redskins blew it against them. The next time they played a quality team outside of the division, the Vikings crushed them 34-3. The division definitely improved this year, but not by much. Dallas improved a little bit in the offseason by drafting Dez Bryant, but that's about it. This is the same team that lost by 31 to a legitimate contender.

Bottom line: The Cowboys aren't great by any means. They will be watching two other teams play in their stadium in Super Bowl XLV. - Michael Klopman

Michael, a Penn State Graduate writes for Xtra Point Football, Around the Horn Baseball, and works on the sports page at the Huffington Post.